sweet dreams

Disclaimer: I am not a professional blogger, baby product expert, or professional product reviewer. I do not get paid money, tokens, recognition, attention, pats-on-the-back, doggie biscuits or ANYTHING for giving mention of products on my blog. Any recommendation of products or services on my blog is based on my honest opinion; not an attempt to gain anything for myself.

I have mentioned on several occasions how BLESSED we are to have two children who are wonderful sleepers. Aside from a few nights, both Jax and Joy have slept all night without waking, and without any other significant issues since they were each about 1 month old. This should mean that Momma and Daddy are also getting plenty of good, quality sleep. Well, that would be the right idea, in theory, but it is coincidentally during those sleep episodes that I get a lot of things done around the house. I am trying to do better with "just leaving it until tomorrow" but it is hard to do, knowing that "tomorrow", chances are, at least one of them will be awake and demanding attention during the day.

Nevertheless, when I do get in bed, I fall asleep almost literally before my head hits the pillow. I have no trouble going to sleep because I am always tired from the day's events and happenings. And, I am able to sleep through the night, without waking, thanks to our video monitors. Jax is 3 1/2 years old and I STILL depend on the monitor. At any point during the night, I can look at the video monitor and see clearly that he is ok in his toddler bed in his room. Joy is still sleeping in the bassinet beside our bed in our room for now, but she is just about ready to move to her crib in her own bedroom. When she does, we already have a video monitor ready for her, too. I do not see how anyone with children can sleep peacefully themselves without one of these monitors. We have the Summer brand video monitors and we have nothing but positives to say about them. There are some other brands that I do not have experience with, but we felt Summer was a reasonable priced product ($99 at Target). (they make great group gifts for expectant moms!) It is definitely worth a Bejamin to be able to sleep without worry! We plan to continue using our monitors for several more years. During the day, we can use them to monitor the children playing, while I am in the kitchen cooking, for example. I just can't say enough about these video monitors. I'm so thankful for them.

I took these pictures because I wanted to be able to always remember how sweet Jax looks when he is sleeping .... I didn't intend for the photos to turn into a Product Review, but for those of you who have no experience with a video-type monitor, I knew an explanation would be necessary for these photos.

As I was getting into bed in the wee hours one morning, I noticed the monitor screen, and how Jax was sleeping so peacefully. I loved his peaceful, innocent expression that I could see on the screen, and I immediately got up and went to retrieve my camera to make the image permanent. I love how you can see his little temporary tatoo on his arm. He insisted that he and his Daddy have matching Tow Mater tatoos earlier that evening, just after bath time. Ha ha.

Perhaps more than anything, these video monitors remind me to "count my blessings" each and every night before I drift off to sleep myself...

Sweet Dreams, everyone!